The Breadwinner Novel Study - Chapter Questions

Students will recall and explain key plot events, character motivations, and setting details from each of the novel's 15 chapters.

Students will make inferences about characters' choices using textual evidence.

Students will track how Parvana's circumstances and relationships change across the novel.

Assign the chapter questions as a post-reading check after each chapter rather than all at once, given the set covers all 15 chapters individually.

Chapter 15's final question ('Did you like how the novel ended? Explain why or why not.') works well as a culminating discussion or written reflection.

Since the novel is set under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, pre-teach context before Chapter 1's questions about why Parvana wasn't 'supposed to be outside.'

Chapter-level comprehension recall — students answer three to twelve short-answer questions per chapter covering plot, character, and setting.

Inference-making — students explain characters' reasoning and hidden motivations, such as why Nooria hides when soldiers enter.

Sequential plot tracking — students follow Parvana's changing situation across 15 chapters, from her father's arrest to disguising herself as a boy.